2. Connecting Evidence to a Claim was developed by Jean Wolph.
1/4/16 Quick Write #1 Write for 5 minutes without picking up your pen on this topic: Healthy food vs. unhealthy food
Connecting Evidence to a Claim was developed by Jean Wolph.

3. Turn and Talk Share what you wrote with the group (read it aloud)
Connecting Evidence to a Claim was developed by Jean Wolph.

4. Connecting Evidence to a Claim was developed by Jean Wolph.
1/4/16 Quick Write #2 Write for 5 minutes without picking up your pen on this topic: Cafeteria Food
Connecting Evidence to a Claim was developed by Jean Wolph.

5. Turn and Talk Share what you wrote with the group (read it aloud)
Connecting Evidence to a Claim was developed by Jean Wolph.

6. Connecting Evidence to a Claim: A Mini-Unit on Argumentation
Jean Wolph
June 2014
Revised May 2015
What you’ll need: Students should be working on a short argument. You can (1) give students a text set to simulate research and have students identify possible evidence from the articles before teaching this lesson (one is included on the next slide) OR (2) use these lessons (without this text set) as an addendum to another mini-unit in a longer unit on argument.
A key skill in this set of lessons is to help students do what Joseph Harris calls “forwarding.”
“In forwarding a text, you begin to shift the focus of your readers away from what its author has to say and toward your own project. Writers often describe themselves as drawing on or mining other texts for ideas and examples, but extracting such materials is only part of the job. You then need to shape them to your own purposes in writing.” (2006, p. 38). The thinking move in this mini-unit is to EXTEND the work of others (in this case, facts and statistics about an issue) to “put your own spin” on the information, connecting it to a local context such as our own school.
Countering is also introduced in this mini-unit as a possible “digging deeper” extension of the unit. Harris describes countering as a way of drawing attention to “ideas and phrasings that strike you as somehow mistaken, troubling, or incomplete….[A]n effective counterstatement must attend closely to the strengths of the position it is responding to, and thus in many ways depends on representing that position clearly and fairly in order to make full sense. The characteristic stance of the counterstatement is ‘Yes, but…’. This sort of rewriting—in which a writer aims less to refute or negate than to rethink or qualify—seems to me one of the key moves in intellectual discourse.” (2006, p. 6)
Connecting Evidence to a Claim was developed by Jean Wolph.

7. Connecting Evidence to a Claim was developed by Jean Wolph.
Writing Standards Emphasized in the Mini-Unit
Write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence, using valid reasoning. Support claim(s) with clear reasons and relevant evidence…demonstrating an understanding of the topic or text.
Conduct short research projects to answer a question, drawing on several sources and refocusing the inquiry when appropriate.
Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources…and quote or paraphrase the data and conclusions of others while avoiding plagiarism and providing basic bibliographic information for sources.
Draw evidence from …informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.
Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences.
Connecting Evidence to a Claim was developed by Jean Wolph.

8. Connecting Evidence to a Claim was developed by Jean Wolph.
Mini-Unit Sequence
Before Mini-Unit
Days 1-2
Day 3
Days 4-5
Students read, annotate, and share/discuss a text set
Sample:
“First Lady Proposes Ban on Junk Food Marketing in Schools”
Excerpt from Chew On This: Everything You Don’t Want to Know About Fast Food
“Healthy Fast Food: Tips for Making Healthier Fast Food Choices”
America's Top 10 Healthiest Fast Food Restaurants
Students form working claims and identify relevant evidence
Study of ways to use sources and connect them to the claim: Illustrating
Drafting
PQP
Reflecting
Study of ways to use sources and connect them to the claim: Authorizing
Study of ways to use sources and connect them to the claim: Countering
Connecting Evidence to a Claim was developed by Jean Wolph.

9. Take notes, what’s most important. http://www. ted

10. Connecting Evidence to a Claim was developed by Jean Wolph.
In this mini-unit, we’ll practice ways that writers use sources to develop their arguments:
Illustrating | Using specific examples from the text to support the claim Authorizing | Referring to an “expert” to support the claim Countering | “Pushing back” against the text in some way (e.g., disagree with it, challenge something it says, or interpret it differently)
Selected slides in this mini-unit can be revisited as students work on daily argument writing and/or on other mini-units, to remind students what these moves look like in the context of developing an argument.
Connecting Evidence to a Claim was developed by Jean Wolph.

11. Text Set for this Mini-Unit:
“First Lady Proposes Ban on Junk Food Marketing in Schools” by Maggie Fox, NBC News
Excerpt from Chew On This: Everything You Don’t Want to Know About Fast Food by Eric Schlosser & Charles Wilson
“Healthy Fast Food: Tips for Making Healthier Fast Food Choices”
America's Top 10 Healthiest Fast Food Restaurants (
The focus can be fast food in general, although two articles particularly take the angle of fast food in schools. Suggested selections from Chew On This: “mcschools,” “the bitter cry of children” (for background on school lunch program), and “the coke dude.” Other selections from this text could be substituted if you prefer not to emphasize the school angle. There is an interesting TedTalk that takes a wider angle on the issue of healthy eating, “What's wrong with what we eat: Mark Bittman on TED.com” Posted by: TED Staff May 15, 2008 at 7:00 am EDT,
Note: This mini-unit’s text set might be used instead with the Nutrition and Schools mini-unit, providing alternate selections that may be suited for younger students.
Connecting Evidence to a Claim was developed by Jean Wolph.

12. Connecting Evidence to a Claim was developed by Jean Wolph.
What You’ll Do First:
Read, annotate, & discuss the text set.
Draft a claim related to this issue that you would like to defend.
Identify quotations, facts, and statistics in these articles that will help you support that claim.
Days 1-3
This mini-unit would be taught AFTER students have had some practice in drafting claims and identifying appropriate evidence to support a claim. These tasks would therefore be done fairly quickly—perhaps in 2-3 class periods, especially if students are able to complete some of the work at home. Strategies learned in other mini-units should be used to annotate the texts and identify potential evidence. Mini-units which might proceed this one include Reality TV and Nutrition & Schools.
This mini-unit could also be inserted WHILE you are teaching a different mini-unit. Start with Slide 4 after students have read and annotated texts for potential evidence to support a claim.
Connecting Evidence to a Claim was developed by Jean Wolph.